Jaws (1975)

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (0) | DVD (61)

Spielberg works self-effacingly, with subtly correct camera placement and meticulous editing. He twists our guts with false alarms, giving us the real thing with heart-stopping suddenness.

October 16, 2008 Full Review | Comments (2)

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Steven Spielberg's mechanical thriller is guaranteed to make you scream on schedule.

June 27, 2007 Full Review | Comments (6)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

The fast-moving 124-minute film engenders enormous suspense as the shark attacks a succession of people.

June 27, 2007 Full Review | Comment

A.D. Murphy

Variety

Top Critic

When it comes to this kind of thriller, no movie has been able to top Jaws, although many have tried. And, as the years go by, it seems increasingly unlikely that anything will come close.

December 12, 2002 Full Review | Comment (1)

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

One of the most effective thrillers ever made.

January 1, 2000 Full Review | Comment (1)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Forget Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List. This is Spielberg's masterwork.

February 10, 2012 Full Review | Comment

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

One of the absolute masterpieces of populist cinema.

January 10, 2012 Full Review | Comment

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

Five-star movie could scare the pants off kids.

January 2, 2011 Full Review | Comment

Scott G. Mignola

Common Sense Media

To be brief and to the point, the GREATEST FILM EVER MADE! Thank you for your time.

January 7, 2010 Full Review | Comments (28)

Michael A. Smith

Nolan's Pop Culture Review

Simply put, Jaws turned the tide of American cinema: irrevocably, and not for the better.

August 20, 2009 Full Review | Comments (6)

Rob Nelson

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

In the end, the shark is a MacGuffin necessary for the men to bond and test themselves against what they fear most--their own mortality.

May 12, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

A looming, terrifying catch of the day.

September 24, 2007 Full Review | Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

A classic. Tense, engrossing, scary and, subsequently, endlessly influential.

September 24, 2007 Full Review | Comment (1)

Film4

Like all the best suspense films, "Jaws" manages to somehow remain amazingly tense, even if you've seen the film before. No wonder so many moviegoers went back for repeat viewings.

July 27, 2007 Full Review | Comment

James Sanford

Kalamazoo Gazette

The 30th anniversary edition includes: a 2-hour docu on the making of the film; an insider's look at life on the set, with new interview from Spielberg; deleted secenes and outtakes; and a look at the film's archive of notes and storyboards, and photos

August 10, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

A reminder that, once upon a time, Spielberg used to make films for adults rather than infants and critical regressives.

June 24, 2006 Full Review | Comments (6)

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

A true film of the 70s, all its characters have feet of clay… Yet Jaws boldly puts [them] to a test as dire as any faced by the granite-jawed supermen of earlier decades.

February 11, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films Guide

For Jaws completists, this is a must-have; for casual Jaws fans, such as myself, it's still a must-have.

January 30, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Johnny Butane

Dread Central

A masterpiece.

July 5, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Gerardo Orlando

Bullz-Eye.com

• 1. Quint: [singing] Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again.
  – Submitted by bob j (40 days ago)
• 1. Quint: Shit.
  – Submitted by Roger M (59 days ago)
• 1. Quint: This is the story of Mary McGee, lived to the age of 103. For 50 years she kept her virginity, not a bad record for this vicinity.
  – Submitted by Troy M (2 months ago)
• 1. Chief Martin Brody: I used to hate the water.
  2. Matt Hooper: I cant imagine why.
  – Submitted by topher h (2 months ago)
• 1. Matt Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis?
  2. Chief Martin Brody: What happened?
  3. Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
  – Submitted by Rocky F (2 months ago)